News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-07-21
THE MYSTERIES OF A DAY.
NOTABLE EVENTS FOUND RE
CORDED IN THE PAPER.
An Organs Notcs-Boxing the Ears
He Knew English-Stopping of
Watch, Etc, Etc.

i |
e Boxing tic cars is too common form
/ OF punishment practised by irritable ant
/ Ignorant persons, and it is almost always
done III fits OF sudden anger. / SLY
q done by irritable and ignorant persons
because it seems to me that no person
; of any information on the subject would
\ allow their passion to get the better o.
their Judgment i'll such q matter. The
drum of the ear is Of paper-like thinness
, 1T may and has been, IN numbers Of
cases, ruptured by single slap ON the
side of the head, incurable deafness re
sulting. Says an eminent physician
t ''Au strokes on the head of children with
an angry hand are brutal and criminal. ,
! In the same connection he adds that a
generous, wise, and humane parent
should allow a night to intervene be-
, tween the commission of the fault on
the part of child and any decided pun
shment. Tie veriest thief should be
allowed time, lest the law should be vim
dictive and wrathful. And shall a man
or woman punish an unresisting child
with angry reconsideration, with I'M
reasoning wrath in the heart? It is
monstrous.
In the village Of Meyrin, in the Can
ton of Geneva, Switzerland, some dis
used wells, it is said, have been hermeti-
cally sealed and devoted to the novel
purpose of serving as barometers to the
people. In this arrangement an oriica
of about one inch in diameter is made III
the cover of the well, by means of which
the internal air is put in communication
with the external. When the air pres
i L
of storm, the air in the well escapes
and blows whistle in connection with
the orifce, and in this simple way notice
of storms approach is duly given to
the inhabitants. But if, on the con-
trary, the pressure Increases, a sound OF
different and well-understood charac-
ter is produced by the entry of the air
into the well, and the probability Of fine
weather is announced.
a BIRMINGHAM paper says that a novel
experiment was tried there last week
with the telephone. A letter was re-
ceived by firm of musical caterers in
that town, asking them to send an organ
to suit pianoforte to room at Mosely,
/ where concert was to take place that
| night. The firm were totally at loss
| to know the precise tone of the piano,
and consequently despaired of being
! able to comply with the demand in time.
However, much to their surprise, they
| found that they could communicate with
| the people at Moseley through the tele-
phone. Forthwith the firm asked that
one of the notes of the piano should be
| struck. When this was done the sound
could be heard in Colmore Row, and by
reducing the pitch-pipe the tones Of both
instruments We're made to correspond.
IT Is is related that some Americans
recently going through the Jardin DIES
Plantes of Paris stopped to look at n big
rattlesnake in a cage. 1t lay motionless,
apparently asleep, but when two of the
party, who fingered behind, began to
speak in English it moved, lifted its
head, and gave every sign of interest.
They told their companions that the
snake understood English. The whole
party then returned to the cage. The
snake was apparently asleep again.
They conversed in French, but the snake
made no movement; then the ladies be-
gan to speak in English. The snake
started, lifted its head, and showed the
same alertness as before at the sounds.
The rattlesnake proved, on inquiry, to
have come from Virginia.
A SMALL boy, swimming with others
in the Erie Canal, near Clyde, suddenly
yelled with vigor that "sothin had |
hold of him." He scrambled ashore,
and the something proved to be a small
swapping turtle, that had grabbed him
by the leg. His beak had gone through /
the skin and some of the flesh Of the |.
boys leg. These animals never let go
their hold while there is life. In this /
case the jaws did not open till after the /
head had been cut off. The wound |
made by the turtles beak was not very |
serious.t The boy wrapped u handker-
chief around his leg and started for
home, carrying the turtle.
A CHARMING and unique friendship is |
said to have sprung up between young .
German and q young Frenchman in
South Holyoke, Mass. Neither can
speak the language of the other, and
both are ignorant of the English Ian
guage. Under ordinary circumstances
these young men would be lifelong
strangers, but fate has thrown them to-
gether as roommates in a boarding
house, and, unable to converse other
than by gestures, there has sprung up
between these young men friendship
OF more than ordinary warmth.
A WIDOW living alone in a suburb of
Boston is dreadfully afraid of tramps.
A nefghbOr has large St Bernard dog,
and When he sees a tramp in the neigh
bordood he says to the dog: Jack, go
over to Mrs. FL. s and sit on her piazza
until the tramp gets by" The dog in
stantly goes, and after he has seen the
tramp safely along the road he comes
home. This same dog always insists
Upon accompanying the widow home
when she calls upon his masters family.
FIFTY YEARS ago Michael Schmidt,
now q well-to-do farmer near st. Louis,
came to this country. He was then II
years old. When he came of age he
began voting, and it was not until the
other day that he learned that he ought
to have taken out naturalization papers.
He had thought that he was a citizen
because he came to this country before
he was eighteen years old. His vote
was never challenged. He has now be-
come citizen according to law.
PAPER doors are coming into use, and,
as compared with those of wood, possess
the advantage of neither shrinking,
swelling, cracking or varying. 1t is
formed of two thick paper boards,
stamped and moulded into panels, and
glazed together with glue and potash,
and then rolled through heavy rolHngs.
After being covered with a waterproof
coating, and then with one that is fire
proof, it is painted, vanished and hung
IN the usual way.
81 AN sorry to disappoint you wrote
a lady in another State to the Lewiston
School Board several months ago re-
garding her acceptance of q prOtfered
situation in Lewiston school, "but |
have found situation which I trust
will be more congenial to my tastes. !
The other day, i'll glancing over news
paper, one of the board read, with Il
pleasant surprise, the announcement of
the young lady's marriage.
THREE months ago W. NJ. Murchison,
who had been i'll for some time, awoke
in the night and found that his tongue 1
was paralyzed, and that he could not
swallow anything. He has Just died nf-
ter fasting ninety days. Up to a short
time before his death he was cheerful,
saying that he was quite willing to die.
'THERE something wrong with this
watch" said gentleman to Nynck
jeweler. my vile wound it up all
right last night; but it has stopped"
The matchmaker opened the watch and
found live red ant fastened between
the wheels, struggling for freedom.
When it was released the watch resumed
its ticking.
Two business men were talking the